Hello everyone!! I’m so excited (and a little scared!) to be posting this (and you might be just as scared to be reading it!!) I have committed once again to training for a crazy endurance event and raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
I got through the Los Angeles Marathon last year and just this month I finished a ½ marathon in Phoenix with Team In Training. This time around I will be training for America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride on June 1st. Sounds great right? This is a 100 mile bike ride at Lake Tahoe!! AHH! I have also increased my goal to raise $5,000 this time. Why do you ask? Because we have not cured blood cancers yet! Here are some scary facts for you to consider:
• An estimated 747,465 Americans have blood cancers.
• Every 5 minutes, someone is diagnosed.
• Every 10 minutes someone dies from blood cancers
• This year 35,070 people will be diagnosed with leukemia
• Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children and young adults under 20
There have been some amazing breakthroughs with medications which take some forms of leukemia from being a death sentence, to being a chronic disease. This has been made possible by the support and research provided by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and more importantly, by donations from YOU! There is still so much to be done by all of us, which is why I am asking you to donate generously to this amazing cause! As you know, everything you donate is tax deductible, 75% of every dollar goes directly to the mission of patient care and research (which is working!!)
Please follow the link below to make your donation. I greatly appreciate it, as do the millions fighting blood cancers right now!! Thanks in advance everyone!
http://www.active.com/donate/tntdms/chelsbels
If you would rather write a check, you can make it to “The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society” and ask me for my address :)
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
**Pass this along to everyone you know they can help in finding a cure too!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
No News
Hey All! Not much to say really. I was going to write a blog last week about something, and now I have no idea what that would have been about...
Let's see...last weekend was a 3 day weekend...but what the hell did I do? Saturday me & Jeff went to an information meeting about the Century Ride, so I'm 99% sure we're going to be doing that. There's only a sliver of a doubt because it's a big fundraising amount we need to get, $4200! So Jeff & I talked about working on that together thinking maybe it'd be easier to raise that much.
What else? This weekend was a really quiet weekend. Some people came over Friday night. Yesterday Ivan & I put a deposit on some furniture! Yes we're growing up and slowing down the moving pace by buying furniture. We just put it on layaway until our lease is up; we're thinking about moving into a house in July, so if we do that we'll just have the furniture moved straight into a house, and if we don't, then the rented furniture can be picked up and the new stuff moved here. The couch is AMAZING! haha It's a big L shaped one, and the pillows and cusions are filled with down! Oh it's so cozy. And the ottoman is gigantic. We love big ottomans...does that sound weird? Anyway, we're excited. And it would be exciting to live in a house too. (With a pool of course!)
Work's good. No news there really. I told my company I want to stay with this district, assuming they still need a contract next year. Which I have no doubts that they will. It's a growing district and I'm sure some of the contractors, at least 1 I think, won't be back next year. We'll see. Worst case scenario is that I have to work in a nearby district. Obviously I hope that's not the case, but I'm used to change so it won't be the end of the world.
I think I can say that Charlie is officially housetrained and it happened really quickly. In the 3 weeks we've doing this hardcore she's only had 1 accident. It's pretty nice actually.
So I guess not much more to say. I'm excited for people to start visiting-- Breigh is coming in a couple weeks (Breigh who I worked with in California), my parents will be here in early March, Becky is coming at the end of March for a weekend, and my penpal Cathy is coming the first week of June. Then I will be heading home for a couple weeks. I'm just really excited for summer!!! I'm going to be able to take the smmer off for the first time and I am just SOOOOO excited to do nothing, or whatever I want!! I've been thinking about taking golf lessons. There is a place where I can get 6 lessons for $250, I'd pay that. I'd like to just take some lessons and see if it's something I could get into. I mean we live in a place where you can golf year round and there are millions of golf courses so I figure I should try it out. There's also cheap tennis lessons at the courts near us, thought that would be fun too. I've played before but taking lessons would be fun and a good way to meet people too.
Anyway, that's all for now. Just enjoying a rainy day watching movies in bed. Ivan is volunteering at a Super Bowl event all day. Later.
Let's see...last weekend was a 3 day weekend...but what the hell did I do? Saturday me & Jeff went to an information meeting about the Century Ride, so I'm 99% sure we're going to be doing that. There's only a sliver of a doubt because it's a big fundraising amount we need to get, $4200! So Jeff & I talked about working on that together thinking maybe it'd be easier to raise that much.
What else? This weekend was a really quiet weekend. Some people came over Friday night. Yesterday Ivan & I put a deposit on some furniture! Yes we're growing up and slowing down the moving pace by buying furniture. We just put it on layaway until our lease is up; we're thinking about moving into a house in July, so if we do that we'll just have the furniture moved straight into a house, and if we don't, then the rented furniture can be picked up and the new stuff moved here. The couch is AMAZING! haha It's a big L shaped one, and the pillows and cusions are filled with down! Oh it's so cozy. And the ottoman is gigantic. We love big ottomans...does that sound weird? Anyway, we're excited. And it would be exciting to live in a house too. (With a pool of course!)
Work's good. No news there really. I told my company I want to stay with this district, assuming they still need a contract next year. Which I have no doubts that they will. It's a growing district and I'm sure some of the contractors, at least 1 I think, won't be back next year. We'll see. Worst case scenario is that I have to work in a nearby district. Obviously I hope that's not the case, but I'm used to change so it won't be the end of the world.
I think I can say that Charlie is officially housetrained and it happened really quickly. In the 3 weeks we've doing this hardcore she's only had 1 accident. It's pretty nice actually.
So I guess not much more to say. I'm excited for people to start visiting-- Breigh is coming in a couple weeks (Breigh who I worked with in California), my parents will be here in early March, Becky is coming at the end of March for a weekend, and my penpal Cathy is coming the first week of June. Then I will be heading home for a couple weeks. I'm just really excited for summer!!! I'm going to be able to take the smmer off for the first time and I am just SOOOOO excited to do nothing, or whatever I want!! I've been thinking about taking golf lessons. There is a place where I can get 6 lessons for $250, I'd pay that. I'd like to just take some lessons and see if it's something I could get into. I mean we live in a place where you can golf year round and there are millions of golf courses so I figure I should try it out. There's also cheap tennis lessons at the courts near us, thought that would be fun too. I've played before but taking lessons would be fun and a good way to meet people too.
Anyway, that's all for now. Just enjoying a rainy day watching movies in bed. Ivan is volunteering at a Super Bowl event all day. Later.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Heath Ledger
Is it weird that I am that upset about someone dying who I don't know personally? Because I am genuinely upset and disturbed by him dying. I was a huge fan of his...in fact years ago I swore I was going to name my kids Heath & Gabriel (Gabriel after his character in The Patriot). I think it's just so sad I guess because he's so young, talented, and has a young child. I dunno. And I keep reading all the updates about the stories rolling in, they had a press release from his family, and they had talked to Michelle Williams (ex, and mother of the child) and ya know, everyone is just distraught obviously. They did say he'd had pneumonia and trouble sleeping, and it was ruled accidental. I guess that's why it's so sad, he wasn't trying to do this. Can you imagine? Just so sad.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Pics from the 1/2
Just follow this link if you want to see pics from the 1/2 marathon. You can search by my last name or by bib #45145.
http://www.asiorders.com/view_event.asp?EVENTID=29137
Enjoy!
http://www.asiorders.com/view_event.asp?EVENTID=29137
Enjoy!
Monday, January 14, 2008
1/2 Marathon Finisher!
Whew, no getting scooped up in a van for me :) Sunday was the 1/2 marathon in Phoenix which I "trained" for with Team In Training again, this time as a mentor. Which is why I wasn't filling up your inboxes begging for money! As a mentor, you have the option of not fundraising, I think it's every other season. So you got this season off everyone, but just wait until my next one, I'll expect some donations again, although I'll try not get mean about it this time :) haha
So anyway, Saturday night was the pasta party where we all go carb load and listen to people make us cry. You get the standard motivational person, and then we get a survivor, or someone still in treatment telling us all these crazy things, all the while making you feel wonderful and horrible. Walking into the dinner is the "red carpet" where all the coaches, coordinators, and mentors make all this noise & cheer & blow whistles in your face and all this stuff. This year I was doing the cheering. I remember last year being a bit traumatized because you don't know it's coming and it's so loud, and so many people, and you just want to cry a little bit! So it was kinda of fun to watch it happen to other people! haha
They had some crazy numbers to tell us too. Let's see if I can remember--this year is TNT's 20th anniversary...in that 20 years, there have been over 340,000 participants just like me, who have raised..............$800,000 million dollars for research!!! Can you believe that number? Wow! I'm trying to remember some of the other things they said...something like 61% of money used to go directly to research, now it's 95%!! Anyway, there were some crazy numbers, to be VERY proud of, but there is still so much work to be done. There's no cure!!! Although there has been wonderful progress with the medication, Gleevac, which these people will have to take everyday for the rest of their lives, and within I think 10 years or less they hope to have like 11 more medications available...(Still no cure you guys!)
Anyway, the race itself was good. A nice flat course, perfect 65 degree weather, a band at every mile, plenty of sports drinks & water offered along the way. Can't really complain. The miles seemed to just tick by...until like mile 9 that is. Then they got a little slower...but I'm only having minor aches & pains, nothing too major. I finished in just at 4 hours, since I walked the whole thing, which I'm content with.
This whole season was a weird one for me. I feel like I wasn't committed for some reason. I think because I came into the season late maybe?? Anyway, as every race, pasta party, or any TNT event will do, it reminds me of why I sign up in the first place. And I'm completely re motivated. So, I still have visions of the triple crown (which means I need to complete a 100 mile bike ride and a triathlon!), and a Hike (they have a newer program called Hike For Discovery), and I really want to get up to the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco, which is a TNT event (and there are SF firemen in tuxes waiting at the finish line with Tiffany necklaces!) AND there is a completely non-TNT related goal that would be so cool to accomplish-- there are a series of 1/2 & full marathons across the country called the "Rock-n-Roll" series (this one in Phoenix was one of them) and they have different medals for completing the races-- for example, you get a 26.2 rock star medal for a full or two halves, a 39.3 medal for a full & half or 3 halves, and so on, a gold musical note for completing back to back marathons in 5 weeks! (WOW!), and if you do at least 5 of their races (all of this in the same calendar year) you get a GIANT gold medal that says "ROCK STAR" on it. It's just amazing. There is a guy on our team this year who did this and we saw all his medals, which were awesome.
So I've got some decisions to make...what do I do first??? I need a break...I need my Saturdays to sleep in on for awhile, but I don't know what to do first. Obviously there's no rush, these events will be here for years and years...but what to do......
P.S.-- I'll need your help :)
So anyway, Saturday night was the pasta party where we all go carb load and listen to people make us cry. You get the standard motivational person, and then we get a survivor, or someone still in treatment telling us all these crazy things, all the while making you feel wonderful and horrible. Walking into the dinner is the "red carpet" where all the coaches, coordinators, and mentors make all this noise & cheer & blow whistles in your face and all this stuff. This year I was doing the cheering. I remember last year being a bit traumatized because you don't know it's coming and it's so loud, and so many people, and you just want to cry a little bit! So it was kinda of fun to watch it happen to other people! haha
They had some crazy numbers to tell us too. Let's see if I can remember--this year is TNT's 20th anniversary...in that 20 years, there have been over 340,000 participants just like me, who have raised..............$800,000 million dollars for research!!! Can you believe that number? Wow! I'm trying to remember some of the other things they said...something like 61% of money used to go directly to research, now it's 95%!! Anyway, there were some crazy numbers, to be VERY proud of, but there is still so much work to be done. There's no cure!!! Although there has been wonderful progress with the medication, Gleevac, which these people will have to take everyday for the rest of their lives, and within I think 10 years or less they hope to have like 11 more medications available...(Still no cure you guys!)
Anyway, the race itself was good. A nice flat course, perfect 65 degree weather, a band at every mile, plenty of sports drinks & water offered along the way. Can't really complain. The miles seemed to just tick by...until like mile 9 that is. Then they got a little slower...but I'm only having minor aches & pains, nothing too major. I finished in just at 4 hours, since I walked the whole thing, which I'm content with.
This whole season was a weird one for me. I feel like I wasn't committed for some reason. I think because I came into the season late maybe?? Anyway, as every race, pasta party, or any TNT event will do, it reminds me of why I sign up in the first place. And I'm completely re motivated. So, I still have visions of the triple crown (which means I need to complete a 100 mile bike ride and a triathlon!), and a Hike (they have a newer program called Hike For Discovery), and I really want to get up to the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco, which is a TNT event (and there are SF firemen in tuxes waiting at the finish line with Tiffany necklaces!) AND there is a completely non-TNT related goal that would be so cool to accomplish-- there are a series of 1/2 & full marathons across the country called the "Rock-n-Roll" series (this one in Phoenix was one of them) and they have different medals for completing the races-- for example, you get a 26.2 rock star medal for a full or two halves, a 39.3 medal for a full & half or 3 halves, and so on, a gold musical note for completing back to back marathons in 5 weeks! (WOW!), and if you do at least 5 of their races (all of this in the same calendar year) you get a GIANT gold medal that says "ROCK STAR" on it. It's just amazing. There is a guy on our team this year who did this and we saw all his medals, which were awesome.
So I've got some decisions to make...what do I do first??? I need a break...I need my Saturdays to sleep in on for awhile, but I don't know what to do first. Obviously there's no rush, these events will be here for years and years...but what to do......
P.S.-- I'll need your help :)
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Back to Life, bah!
So it's back to life as usual now.
I flew back to AZ on Wednesday the 2nd, with an hour delay in Denver, 40 minutes of sitting on a non-moving plane, and then only to land to find my luggage didn't make the trip with me!!! Finally got back to Surprise at about 2 a.m. My luggage, although torn open!, was delivered to me about 6 o'clock Thursday evening.
On Thursday Ivan took the day off work to hang out with me. We went out to lunch (Red Robin is wonderful) and to the movies to see Juno, which was good. A funny, witty movie about teen pregnancy...because teen pregnancy is so funny right? haha
Friday I rented a carpet cleaner and cleaned the heck out of our carpet. See....when we got Charlie, we got lazy. My intention was for Lucy to housetrain Charlie. I thought she might just pick up on what Lucy was doing...for everyone's reference: this is not the case. One well trained dog will not teach another dog to pee on a pad. So it's time to step in and give Lucy a break. So anyway, I cleaned the carpet and we've been taking them outside to pee like every 2 hours, while watching Charlie like a hawk. It's been 6 days and we've had only one occurrence of peeing on the carpet, which she was locked up for awhile for that one. I just hope she gets it eventually. Right now she's just not getting the opportunity to pee on the carpet, but I hope it actually clicks with her to NOT pee on the carpet, by choice that is :) We'll see.
What else...Saturday I had my last practice before the half-marathon... I'm sooo not ready. But oh well. I've done it before, I'll do it again, and if I'm so slow I get scooped up in a van and carried to the finish line, I actually won't really care! I've got nothing left to prove to myself and I just didn't put any effort really into training this season. So, I'm ready for it just be over with I guess.
That day I also did a little shopping with my gift cards and got a shelf, and a wall hanging. Nice little additions to the place I think. That night was Johnathan's birthday so we played this card game called "Skit Skat." Which was super fun. And drank of course. Drank too much. And Jeff came back from visiting people in Utah & Vegas. I ended up in bed sick most of Sunday. Why this always happens to me I don't know! Ok, I do know why, but I swear I always think I've stopped in time and I never do apparently.
Back to work on Monday. Which I sat there thinking...is there anyway at all that I can work part time? I really don't want to go back to work! So on the one hand it's nice to be back in a routine and everything, and on the other I could have used about another week off work! I'm so looking forward to this summer. The plan is to actually take the summer off. 12 whole weeks! Can you imagine? I would think maybe I'd be ready to get back to work then right...? We'll see. The most I've ever had off at one time was 6 weeks. Which was nice, but sucked because I hadn't planned for 6 weeks. This will be different because I'm planning on no income. Or at least very little income. I might see some home kids. At this moment I'm thinking I wouldn't want to see more than 5. Which means I could work like 1 hour a day, or 1 day a week, or just 2 days a week each day a couple of hours. Sounds magical to me. haha
This week some mutual friends of Johnathan & mine are coming to visit. Although it's a horrible weekend because I'll be busy with Team In Training and the marathon & all of that jazz. They are going to Vegas on Saturday night, which is probably good so I don't have the distractions before the race and be tempted to like drink all night and skip the race all together. hah....not a bad idea necessarily :)
So I guess that's about it... I've probably wasted enough time and should do some work...huh?
I flew back to AZ on Wednesday the 2nd, with an hour delay in Denver, 40 minutes of sitting on a non-moving plane, and then only to land to find my luggage didn't make the trip with me!!! Finally got back to Surprise at about 2 a.m. My luggage, although torn open!, was delivered to me about 6 o'clock Thursday evening.
On Thursday Ivan took the day off work to hang out with me. We went out to lunch (Red Robin is wonderful) and to the movies to see Juno, which was good. A funny, witty movie about teen pregnancy...because teen pregnancy is so funny right? haha
Friday I rented a carpet cleaner and cleaned the heck out of our carpet. See....when we got Charlie, we got lazy. My intention was for Lucy to housetrain Charlie. I thought she might just pick up on what Lucy was doing...for everyone's reference: this is not the case. One well trained dog will not teach another dog to pee on a pad. So it's time to step in and give Lucy a break. So anyway, I cleaned the carpet and we've been taking them outside to pee like every 2 hours, while watching Charlie like a hawk. It's been 6 days and we've had only one occurrence of peeing on the carpet, which she was locked up for awhile for that one. I just hope she gets it eventually. Right now she's just not getting the opportunity to pee on the carpet, but I hope it actually clicks with her to NOT pee on the carpet, by choice that is :) We'll see.
What else...Saturday I had my last practice before the half-marathon... I'm sooo not ready. But oh well. I've done it before, I'll do it again, and if I'm so slow I get scooped up in a van and carried to the finish line, I actually won't really care! I've got nothing left to prove to myself and I just didn't put any effort really into training this season. So, I'm ready for it just be over with I guess.
That day I also did a little shopping with my gift cards and got a shelf, and a wall hanging. Nice little additions to the place I think. That night was Johnathan's birthday so we played this card game called "Skit Skat." Which was super fun. And drank of course. Drank too much. And Jeff came back from visiting people in Utah & Vegas. I ended up in bed sick most of Sunday. Why this always happens to me I don't know! Ok, I do know why, but I swear I always think I've stopped in time and I never do apparently.
Back to work on Monday. Which I sat there thinking...is there anyway at all that I can work part time? I really don't want to go back to work! So on the one hand it's nice to be back in a routine and everything, and on the other I could have used about another week off work! I'm so looking forward to this summer. The plan is to actually take the summer off. 12 whole weeks! Can you imagine? I would think maybe I'd be ready to get back to work then right...? We'll see. The most I've ever had off at one time was 6 weeks. Which was nice, but sucked because I hadn't planned for 6 weeks. This will be different because I'm planning on no income. Or at least very little income. I might see some home kids. At this moment I'm thinking I wouldn't want to see more than 5. Which means I could work like 1 hour a day, or 1 day a week, or just 2 days a week each day a couple of hours. Sounds magical to me. haha
This week some mutual friends of Johnathan & mine are coming to visit. Although it's a horrible weekend because I'll be busy with Team In Training and the marathon & all of that jazz. They are going to Vegas on Saturday night, which is probably good so I don't have the distractions before the race and be tempted to like drink all night and skip the race all together. hah....not a bad idea necessarily :)
So I guess that's about it... I've probably wasted enough time and should do some work...huh?
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